My Japanese style forge

[30cal_Fun]

Hi,

It's been a while since I started building my Japanese style forge, but it's finally finished!
Below a description of how I did it.

First I lifted the old bbq/forge from its place and moved it to it's new spot on the concrete plateau in the back of the yard. Then I cut a few firebricks to size with an angle grinder. these bricks were easy to shape with it. I got the bricks from a fellow forum member on a Dutch blade forum.

The I started building, layer for layer, letting each one dry for a week.
below a picture of the old bbq/forge that I used as a base. No sense letting all that good concrete go to waste:


Here she is after the first layer:


Then the second and last layer:


Then a top coat to make the surface nice and smooth:


Here a few pictures of me at work:


And the brand new anvil I got last week!


And this is how she will look during forging, I am not building it up further, because this way I can just add or remove bricks when necessary.
I didn't move the tuyère (air pipe) as planned, I will see how this goes first.



So far the build of my new charcoal forge.
I have O2 Toolsteel (1.2842) and S4 Springsteel (1.2826) on the way and in tree weeks, I'll have all the time in the world to start forging blades!
I also plan on making some Tsuba's so with this new forge I can blacken them nicely.

Let me know what you think,
Louis